Super Mario Balotelli
When Mario Balotelli arrived at Kybunpark Arena in St Gallen, Switzerland, he had the look of a changed man. His delicate, careful footsteps onto the field greatly contrasted his 6 foot 2, muscular physique that he works hard day in and day out to maintain. As he quietly sung “Il Canto degli Italiani”, the national anthem of Italy, his mohawk could be seen standing high over his head, just outside the frame of the camera focused solely on him. His normal proud but solemn body language was replaced by a warm smile, greeting both his teammates and opponents alike.
A humble demeanor was not a usual occurrence, but an appreciated change for the 27 year old forward from his headline making younger years. An air of utmost confidence still enshrouds the Italian, however. In Ligue 1, he had been in good form, scoring goal after goal, gracefully dancing around defenders with a finesse unusual for a man of his stature. His delicate walk turned to a meaningful stride as he approached the center of the field for kick-off. While some Italian fans in the crowd watched with excited anticipation, others looked on in loathing. Nevertheless, all eyes were on him when the referee blew the whistle to start the game. After 4 years, “Super Mario” was once again playing for his country.
Balotelli did not have the brightest of childhoods. Born in 1990 as Mario Barwuah in Palermo, Italy, he was the child of Thomas and Ruth Barwuah, two Ghanaian immigrants. Early on in his life, Balotelli suffered a life threatening intestinal illness, and was hospital ridden for much of his first years (Mayer et al.). His parents decided, once his treatment was complete, to put him into foster care, citing the cramped living spaces caused by his other siblings. Soon after, at about 3 years of age, Silvia and Francesco Balotelli adopted him. The two Jewish Italians gave Balotelli a home and an escape from his troubled beginnings. He has stayed with them ever since, and calls them his parents.
From a very young age, Balotelli had an affinity for the game of soccer. At just 11 years of age, he signed to his first professional team, Lumezzane, a small team in the lower ranks of Italian soccer. He went on the following year to carry the Lumezzane youth team to a championship. In the final, Balotelli scored two goals — a penalty, a skill that he would later be known for, and an effortless chip shot over the head of the goalkeeper (Caioli). The youth coaches saw potential in the young Italian and four years later, he got his chance on the professional pitch.
This achievement, however, was when the dark cloud of racism slowly began to realize itself. “He was drafted in for his debut with the first team at 15 when we were a player short against Padoa,” remembered Ezio Chinelli, the chairman of Lumezzane at the time. “He came on for the last 20 minutes and immediately dummied a defender, who flattened him, just as the crowd started chanting abuse. Now there is a black kid on every team round here, but 10 years ago he was the first” (Carter et al.).
When he signed to Inter Milan, one of the biggest soccer clubs in Italy, the racial abuse got worse. Racist chants became a common occurrence. Opposition fans made monkey noises whenever Balotelli touched the ball. Bananas were waved at him. On one occasion, graffiti was painted on the outside of the San Siro, Inter Milan’s stadium, that read: “You are not a true Italian, you are a black African” (Carter et al.). Juventus, a team in Turin, were once fined 20,000 euros and forced to close a section of their stands after their fans sang “There are no black Italians” (Mayer et al.).
Balotelli was an anomaly for Italy in the early 2010s — an exceptionally talented Italian soccer player who was also black. He was the first black Italian ever to represent his country at an international competition, and did so with finesse, scoring 2 famous goals against Germany to take Italy to the final of the European Championships in 2012 (WhoScored).
Today, he is seen by many Italians not for his heroics playing for Italy, but rather as a symbol of change in a country seeing more and more immigrants each passing year. In 1985, according to an article by D’Orsi, the number of legal immigrants in Italy was about 423,000. By 2017, that number had risen to 3,714,137, an increase of over 3 million and about 15 percent of Italy’s population (D’Orsi). With them brings a new social and cultural shift, that some Italians are unwilling to accept.
As Stella, a Corriere della Sera columnist, writes, “I am sorry for Balotelli, he should be left alone to play football, but right now he is symbol of a cultural shift in Italy and a yardstick for whether we can make that change” (Kington).
The rise of immigrants in Italy has also given way to a feeling of xenophobia within many Italians. A policy that allows children of immigrants born in Italy to obtain citizenship at 18 years of age has been faced with heavy opposition from some Italians, who believe that these children should not be allowed citizenship at all. Many are afraid that Italy will lose their national identity with the acceptance of new ethnicities and cultures (Moody). This policy, incidentally, was the one that granted Balotelli his citizenship at 18, as the son of two immigrants.
Another correspondent for the Corriere della Sera, Sandro Modeo, remarks, “The difference [from other black players] is Balotelli is totally black and totally Italian, and that has provoked a short circuit among fans” (Kington).
Balotelli was never afraid to fight back against those who racially abused him. During a game against Chievo Verona, he sarcastically applauded the crowd after racist remarks were hurled down from the stands(Carter et al.). But then again, fighting back was deeply embedded in his upbringing as a foster child.
Since the start of his career, Balotelli has been a magnet for trouble. An article by Carter and other Guardian writers recounts that he sported an AC Milan jersey on live TV, the arch rivals of Inter Milan, after being dropped from the team because of lack of effort in practice. This lead to a public outcry, and subsequent apology on the Inter website. Arguments with Inter Milan staff and teammates behind the scenes caused his coach at the time, Jose Mourinho, to call him “unmanageable”. On the pitch, Balotelli’s behavior was no better. Picking fights with players, rude behavior, controversial moments — trouble followed Balotelli everywhere he went (Carter et al.).
An unruly attitude eventually became too much for Inter to handle, and in 2010, at the age of 19, Balotelli was transferred to Manchester City. At Manchester, his antics continued to get worse. He could neither be predicted nor controlled, shooting his stardom to a whole new level. The English media, who took a liking to his troublemaking, wrung out stories of Balotelli all throughout England.
Balotelli scarcely celebrates when he scores. Instead, he stone faced stands around, while his teammates hug him and applaud his goal. When questioned on why, he responded , “When I score, I don’t celebrate because I’m only doing my job. When a postman delivers letters, does he celebrate?” (Fifield).
In 2011, he reportedly threw a dart at a youth player in the Manchester City academy. Later that year, his house reportedly caught on fire when he allowed fireworks to be lit inside of his bathroom (Digby). The next day, Balotelli famously lifted up his jersey to reveal a shirt that read: “Why Always Me?” — a reference to the media’s obsession with him (Mayer et al.).
His media antics were backed up by footballing ability, and after a great start to his career in Manchester, he was chosen for the Italian national team. Some took offense to his inclusion in the Italy squad, however. In an International friendly against Austria, a banner was raised by some fans that read “No to a multi-ethnic national team” (Pitt-Brooke).
Balotelli called them “a group of idiots” the day after the game. “What happened yesterday was racism, but it’s also stupidity on the part of just a few people.” He later added to this statement, stating “We need to change these people but it’s not me that has to do it … A multi-ethnic Italy already exists and we can do better” (Pitt-Brooke).
For a man who was in his early 20s, this level of fame, notoriety, and abuse could not have been good for him. And by 2013, it started to show on the soccer field. His form had fallen to an all time low, and the once prolific striker had stopped scoring. Management no longer consented his off field antics, and after a falling out with yet another coach, he was shipped off from Manchester City to Liverpool (Digby). There, Balotelli had a disastrous 3 year spell, where he played only 21 games, and scored only 3 times (WhoScored). His bad form consequently dropped him from the Italian national team in 2014, just after representing them in the World Cup.
At a low point in his career, Balotelli transferred to OGC Nice in 2016, a team in the city of its namesake, Nice, situated in the South-East of France. There, he found a resurgence in his scoring ability, and has since scored 42 goals in 62 appearances as of July 2018 (WhoScored). More importantly, he obtained a new-found level-headedness and maturity that he did not have before. Balotelli himself has said that he has become a “better man” during his time in France, but also attributes it to coincidence. In an interview with Nice in 2018, he remarked “…I’m a father, I have two kids, and I have a calm life, and it happened when I was here, so I mature. A lot. And it’s also because I’m getting older” (“We Call Him Mario”: Interview with Mario Balotelli). Balotelli seems to have put his wild youthful days behind him, and has grown both as a player, and as a man.
Although his attitude may have grown, Italian racism is still ever-present in Italy. The 2 to 1 victory over Saudi Arabia in May of 2018, and a goal from Balotelli did not stop some Italian fans from sullying his return to the national team. Before the game, news that Balotelli may want to become vice captain of the team made its waves through the media. A banner was then seen raised by some in the crowd that read “Il mio capitano è di sangue italiano”, which translates to English as “my captain has Italian blood”, a direct attack at Balotelli’s Ghanaian heritage (Nenzi).
Balotelli later responded on Instagram, “Guys! We’re Living in 2018! Wake Up! Please stop with that” (Nenzi). A polite, but powerful comment, showing that Balotelli has returned to Italy with a maturity that he never had before. And it appears that now, it is Italy’s turn to grow up.
“To be captain would not change that much for me, but it would be a signal to the country. I’m in this national team to score goals. I can be an example without the captain’s armband, [but] for the others, the African immigrants and their kids, it would be a strong signal” (AFP).
Works Cited
Caioli, Luca. “Mario Balotelli, the Early Years: A Precocious Prankster with Absolute Belief” Bleacher Report. 4 Aug. 2015. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2527597-mario-balotelli-the-early-years-a-precocious-prankster-with-absolute-belief.
Carter, Hattenstone, Kington. “Mario Balotelli: Why Always Him?” The Guardian. 28 Oct. 2011. www.theguardian.com/football/2011/oct/28/mario-balotelli-manchester-city.
D‘Orsi, Cristiano.“Why the election of a black senator won’t make a dent on racism in Italy” The Conversation. 27 Mar. 2018. theconversation.com/why-the-election-of-a-black-senator-wont-make-a-dent-on-racism-in-italy-94044.
Digby, Adam. “The Origins of Mario Balotelli: Bleacher Report Life Stories.” Bleacher Report. 20 Feb. 2014. bleacherreport.com/articles/1967009-the-origins-of-mario-balotelli-bleacher-report-life-stories.
Fifield, Dominic. “Mario Balotelli, Italy’s postman, celebrates first-class delivery” The Guardian. 28 Jun. 2012. www.theguardian.com/football/2012/jun/28/euro-2012-mario-balotelli-italy-germany.
Kington, Tom. “Italy's culture of racism exposed by fans' abuse of black football star” The Guardian. 12 Dec. 2009. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/13/italy-racism-football-mario-balotelli.
Mayer, Catherine and Stephan Faris. “Why Always Mario? (Cover Story).” Time International (Atlantic Edition), vol. 180, no. 20, 12 Nov. 2012, pp. 34–41. EBSCOhost, 0-search.ebscohost.com.library.4cd.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=83321920&site=eds-live.
Moody, Barry.“Can Balotelli soccer success help fight Italian racism?” Reuters. 11 Jul. 2012. www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-racism/can-balotelli-soccer-success-help-fight-italian-racism-idUSBRE86A0G020120711.
Nenzi, Rachele. “ ‘Mio capitano è di sangue italiano’. E Balotelli bacchetta gli ultrà: ‘Sveglia’ ” Il Giornale. 29 May. 2018. www.ilgiornale.it/news/sport/mio-capitano-sangue-italiano-e-balotelli-bacchetta-ultr-1533653.html.
Pitt-Brooke, Jack. “Balotelli says ‘stupid’ Italian racists must be stamped out” Independent. 20 Feb. 2014. www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/balotelli-says-stupid-italian-racists-must-be-stamped-out-2137962.html.
“ ‘We Call Him Mario’: Interview with Mario Balotelli” YouTube, uploaded by OGC Nice, 30 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPQQWuQ_Abw.
WhoScored.com Revolutionising Football Statistics. Whoscored.com, 2012, whoscored.com. Accessed 6 Jun. 2018.